


Super Best Friends

by multifandommess



Category: South Park
Genre: And for the 'fanfictions' prompt I'm posting a snippet from a Halloween fic I never finished, Band, But I'm not going to tag them since they're not the main focus, Classic Style Moment, Dolls, Eric Cartman Being Eric Cartman, Goth & Jersey, He's just being conniving and manipulative as usual, Holidays, I'll update the tags as I go since I haven't written all the prompts yet, Kidnapping, M/M, Okay I think that's all the tags for the Halloween one, So I'll tag warnings for that one, Soulmate AU, Style Week 2019, Then the last two prompts are 'holidays' and 'super best friends' so, There's also some Bunny (Butters/Kenny) sprinkled in the background for a few of the prompts, Though he's not the one doing any of the bad stuff (for once) lol, Update: Okay so I decided on, for my free day prompt, super best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21807979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandommess/pseuds/multifandommess
Summary: Seven instances showing that through thick and thin, no matter what may happen or what universe they’re in, Stan and Kyle are always destined to be super best friends. (A collection of 7 separate one-shots)
Relationships: Kyle Broflovski/Stan Marsh
Comments: 17
Kudos: 78





	1. Day One: Classic Style Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Style Week 2019](https://styleweek.tumblr.com/)! I haven’t written South Park stuff in like five million years save for my zine contribution, and the prompts were kind of vague but hopefully I’ll manage to do a decent job with them;;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit on the shorter side, so sorry in advance ;_; I decided to go with Cartmanland for a classic Style moment, with a small reference to Cherokee Hair Tampons as well since both of them had a similar theme of Stan helping to save Kyle's life ;u;

It took hardly a few hours after Kyle had been released from the hospital for him and Stan to be joined at the hip once more, with Stan immediately announcing that he would be sleeping over at Kyle’s house as soon as he got home.

For some reason, both Stan and Kyle’s mothers had merely shared a knowing glance and matching smiles upon hearing Stan’s firm declaration, but Stan wasn’t about to complain as long as they were okay with him spending the night with his best friend.

They had decided to relax in Kyle’s room and play some video games--something mindless and fun, and more importantly, something that would prevent Kyle from getting stressed in any way. After all, even if the doctor had given the okay for Kyle to go home, that didn’t mean Stan wasn’t still worried about Kyle’s health, and the last thing he wanted was for Kyle to have to be rushed back to the hospital once more.

Kyle had spent way too much time in the hospital lately, as far as Stan was concerned. He could only hope he would never have to see Kyle in a hospital bed ever again after this.

“Thank you, Stan.”

Stan was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Kyle’s voice, and he briefly turned his gaze away from the TV in order to glance over at his best friend. “Huh? For what?”

Kyle turned his gaze over to Stan in return, setting down his controller in favor of giving Stan his full attention. “Dude, you saved my life.”

“I dunno if I’d consider that saving your life… I mean, all I did was make your parents drag your hospital bed out so you could watch Cartman get what he deserved.” Stan gave Kyle a small smile as he added, “I know you would’ve done the same for me.”

“Well yeah, obviously--but Stan, my parents were ready to give up. The doctor was ready to give up. Hell,  _ I _ already gave up. You were the only one that kept trying to find a way to help me.”

A light blush heated up Stan’s face as he took in Kyle’s soft expression and sincere tone, and he dropped his gaze with a modest shrug. “Dude, you’re my best friend. Of course I wasn’t going to give up on you.” With a smile, he added, “Besides, don’t you remember? I told you that I don’t want you to die until I do.”

“Best friends forever, right?” Kyle replied, matching Stan’s smile with one of his own.

Stan nudged his shoulder against Kyle’s, his smile widening into a grin. “No, dude.  _ Super _ best friends forever.”

Kyle laughed as he returned the gesture.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Kyle met Stan’s gaze with a grateful expression, conveying all the feelings he couldn’t quite put into words just yet.

Maybe someday, he would be able to properly articulate just how much Stan meant to him, just how much he appreciated having someone that cared about him enough to go above and beyond to save his life time and time again--but for now, that simple phrase would be enough.

“Super best friends forever.”


	2. Day Two: Goth and Jersey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never written Goth!Stan or Jersey!Kyle before so I apologize if either of them feel off in any way;; I had a lot more fun with this one than I expected to, and I hope everyone enjoys it! ^^
> 
> (Also, in case it's not clear, this one's a high school AU where Kyle and his family moved away to Jersey when Kyle and Stan were still in elementary school)

The move would be good for the whole family, his parents had said.

What a load of garbage.

Not that it really mattered to Raven in the end: he would be miserable no matter where he went, because misery was part of the universe. It was something he learned to embrace since he was a young child, for better or worse.

Kind of sucked that all those other conformist kids never really understood him, but friends were meaningless anyway. Everything was meaningless, of course, but friends were especially meaningless--in the end, everyone was fated to be all alone, so what was the point in engaging in superficial relationships?

Raven was glad that he learned that lesson back in elementary school. Going through the heartache of having a so-called friend torn away from him made him learn that there was no point in making friends at all, not when they would all leave him in the end just like K--

What a pain. There was no point in thinking about any of this, either.

Admittedly, it was a decent enough distraction from his current predicament, at least, but in the end everything was meaningless: both his train of thought, and the assholes that had pulled him behind his new high school in order to try and ‘convince’ him to hand over his wallet.

What a great move for the family, indeed. Two days in and he was already getting kicked around. A wonderful life choice on his parents’ part, dragging him all the way from Colorado to New Jersey.

And people wondered how he could have a drinking problem at such a young age. Hah.

“  _ ‘ey!! _ The hell are you bastards doin’ to ‘im, huh?!”

Raven blinked, pulled from his sardonic thoughts by the sound of a new--yet oddly familiar--voice, and for a brief moment he wondered if someone was actually stepping in to help him before scoffing to himself.

Yeah right. What kind of idiot would throw themselves into danger for someone they never even--

Raven only had a second to process a shock of red hair in his vision before fists began flying, and before he knew it the bullies had turned tail and fled, leaving Raven behind with this hotheaded stranger.

“You okay?”

The guy’s question barely registered to Raven, and he instead found himself staring in bewilderment, taking in the stranger’s odd appearance.

His eyes first locked onto the stranger’s red hair, the color and volume immediately striking a chord of nostalgia in the back of Raven’s mind that he was quick to push aside--after all, the hair he remembered was much fluffier, and wasn’t slicked back with what looked to be an entire tub of gel. The guy had on a gold necklace, and his fingers were adorned with gaudy--and blood-specked, probably from punching those assholes from before--rings; but what really threw Raven off was the white tanktop with words sloppily scrawled across it.

“ _ Kyley-B _ …?” Raven muttered incredulously, his eyebrows raised so high he could feel them brushing against the edge of his beanie.

What the hell was a ‘Kyley-B’?

The stranger apparently either didn’t realize or didn’t care that Raven was looking at him like he had three heads, since he puffed up with a cocky grin as he replied, “The one ‘n’ only.”

“So that’s your name, then.” Raven wasn’t sure whether to feel surprised by the simple stupidity of this person, or appalled by the tackiness of wearing a white shirt with your own name scribbled on it like a child.

In the end, Raven decided to push both feelings aside. Feelings were pointless and a waste of time.

“Well, whatever,” Raven continued, moving past Kyley-B.

“What the hell’s your deal?!”

Kyley-B grabbed Raven’s shoulder with a scowl, forcing him to a stop and pulling him back around to face him.

Raven stared back at him with a nonplussed expression. “What?”

“The hell d’you mean ' _ what' _ ?! I saved your ass, and I don’t even get a thank you?!”

Raven raised an eyebrow. “I never asked you to save me,” he pointed out.

Kyley-B flushed in chagrin as he glared at Raven, his irritation growing as Raven didn’t so much as flinch in response. “Yeah, well, still wouldn’t kill ya t’ show a bit ‘a decency, you… you goth dick!”

“Really? You’re going to ask me to show you decency after calling me a ‘goth dick’?” Raven replied dryly, before letting out a sigh. “Well, whatever. This is a waste of time. Thanks for saving me, my name’s Raven, glad to meet you, et cetera et cetera. Can I go now?”

Kyley-B growled, almost physically feeling his irritation growing from Raven’s flippant attitude and bored tone--and for some reason, something in the back of his mind told him that despite never having met this asshole before, this wasn’t really the kind of person he was.

If his gut was telling him that there was more to this guy than his depressing aura and grating demeanor, then Kyley-B wasn’t about to back down, not yet.

With his mind set, Kyley-B jogged off after Raven, who had disregarded his lack of a response and walked off on his own.

“Hey!”

Raven didn’t stop, but at the very least he gave a quick glance over his shoulder to show that he was listening.

“You’re new, right? Just transferred in?”

When Raven gave a curt nod, Kyley-B’s expression softened slightly--maybe the guy was just having a rough time adjusting. After all, Kyley-B had acted like a nightmare child the first few weeks after his parents forced him to move all the way out here to Jersey.

Not that he was too much better now that he was in high school, but still. At least he fit in, if nothing else.

“That’s rough,” Kyley-B continued. “I know how it feels, getting forced out by your parents and dragged off to some new place. If you wanna talk--”

“I’m not interested in talking, or making friends. There’s no point.”

Kyley-B paused as Raven cut him off, his brows furrowing as he took in Raven’s detached tone and distant expression.

“The hell are you talkin’ about? ‘Course there’s a point: so you don’t gotta go through shit alone.”

“Even if you’ll end up all alone in the end?” Raven shot back. “Whether you’re the one that leaves or someone leaves you, it’s all the same. Forming relationships is meaningless.”

Kyley-B frowned, absentmindedly toying with the chain around his neck as he fell into thought for a moment before speaking. “Look, I can’t say I know what you’ve been through, but… I don’t think forming relationships is meaningless. Sure, leaving ‘n’ being left behind hurts, but I’d rather make fun memories to have somethin’ happy to look back on when I’m alone than t’ just push people away altogether.” A small, nostalgic smile flitted across his face as he continued, “Like… before my family moved here, I had this friend--we were just kids, but man, I thought I was gonna spend the rest of my life with that guy with how glued at the hip we were. Pretty much all ‘a my best memories were with him, and they’re the only thing that helped me get through the move--it gave me somethin’ to smile ‘n’ laugh about, even just to myself, y’know?”

Raven stared at Kyley-B incredulously, stunned to silence as he listened to him speak, before dropping his gaze in thought.

“Memories, huh….”

He was hardly even aware of the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips--small but genuine, the first in a long, long time.

“Yeah. I had a friend like that too. It hurt when he left, and I thought I could stop myself from feeling that kind of pain ever again by shutting everyone and everything out--but… I shouldn’t have shut out those memories of me and him.”

“Now you’re gettin’ it!” Kyley-B grinned and gave Raven a friendly slap on the back, before eyeing Raven’s smiling face curiously as he added, “Y’know… it’s kinda weird, but you remind me a bit of my friend, now that I think about it.”

Raven blinked in stunned surprise before letting out a quiet, incredulous chuckle. “I was thinking the same thing about you, actually--though my friend didn’t dress nearly as bad as you do.”

“Seriously?! You tryin’a tell me  _ I’m _ dressed bad when you’re dressed like you’re goin’ to a funeral?”

“Must be a very stylish funeral, then.”

“Oh fuck off!”

Raven cracked another smile as Kyley-B playfully bumped shoulders with him, the two of them continuing to banter with one another as they walk side by side.

It wasn’t as thought Raven suddenly thought life was wonderful--no, the world was still crap, and he still didn’t believe that there was a point to most things in life.

This, though… he could deal with an exception like this.


	3. Day Three: Band

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another shorter chapter, and another high school AU with a reference to the episode "Christian Rock Hard". Enjoy! ^^

Kyle was taking his books out of his locker when he heard someone rushing over to him, a familiar footfall that he would recognize anywhere after years of hearing it.

“Kyle! Dude!”

Kyle turned around in time to catch Stan rushing towards him, and he couldn’t help the fondly exasperated sigh that slipped out as he saw the excited gleam in his best friend’s eyes.

God only knew what Stan had in mind to drag him into this time. Not that he could ever really bring himself to say no to him in the end, of course.

Stan came to a stop in front of Kyle, grinning and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet as he asked, “So, random question… do you still play?” Upon receiving a raised eyebrow, Stan elaborated, “Bass, I mean.”

“Stan, you know I haven’t touched an instrument since like… middle school at the absolute latest,” Kyle replied. “What’s this all about?”

With a flourish, Stan pulled out a flyer from behind his back and thrust it forward, his grin widening as Kyle took it from him to read it over.

“‘ _ Battle of the Bands _ ’?” Kyle read incredulously, his eyes skimming through the details written on the flyer before coming to rest on what had (presumably) gotten Stan so excited in the first place. “Woah, there’s a five hundred dollar prize for winning this?”

“Isn’t that awesome?! Dude, we’ve gotta give it a try!”

Kyle sighed and handed the flyer back to Stan. “Okay, but… why did you come to me? Seriously, you know I haven’t played an instrument in forever; I’m sure you can find plenty of other people with talent that would want to play in a band with you.”

That wasn’t an exaggeration, either: between Stan’s status as quarterback on the football team, plus his general amiableness, he was extremely well-liked among practically the entire school. If Stan said he wanted to start a band, people would probably be lining up to join him, and not just for a chance at winning the prize money.

Stan’s brows furrowed in confusion and the slightest traces of hurt. “What do you mean, why did I come to you? You’re my best friend; why would I want to do this with anyone else? I mean, if you don’t want to do it then that’s fine, it’s cool, I just thought maybe--”

“I never said no,” Kyle replied, cutting Stan off with a hint of a smile, and he inwardly relished the sight of Stan’s expression lighting back up in an excited grin once more. “Just don’t blame me if we lose this thing because I’m out of practice.”

“Dude, don’t worry! We’ve got time to get you back up to speed before the show,” Stan replied, giving Kyle a friendly clap on the shoulder.

“Okay, but we can’t have a band with just us. Who else are you going to ask to join?”

Stan hummed in thought for a moment, and Kyle couldn’t help but feel both amused and flattered that Stan had apparently only had him in mind when he came up with this crazy plan.

“Oh!” Stan perked up in realization. “Dude, let’s ask Kenny! He played drums with us when we were kids, remember?”

Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Please tell me you’re not talking about ‘Moop’.”

Stan grinned in response. “Yeah, we’ll be Moop 2.0!”

“Please,” Kyle began, his tone and expression both clearly exasperated yet hiding traces of amusement, “don’t tell me that’s what you’re planning on naming our band. We were  _ kids _ when we came up with that name; it sounds ridiculous and makes no sense.”

“Eh, don’t worry, it’ll just be a placeholder until we think of a better name,” Stan replied, waving off Kyle’s concerns. “Anyway, I’m off to find Kenny! Meet us at my place later so we can start practicing!”

“Wait, I don’t know--” Kyle started, only to sigh as Stan eagerly rushed off in search of their parka-clad friend. “--where my bass is,” he finished lamely, shaking his head slightly as he went back to gathering his belongings from his locker.

Still, even if Kyle knew this would probably end up turning into a crazy disaster just like all of their misadventures tended to do, he couldn’t help the excited smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he rushed home, determined to figure out where his parents had stored that old bass guitar of his.


	4. Day Four: Free Day (Soulmate AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit late because I spent all day stressing over trying to figure out what to write for the free day, only to end up cranking this out in like an hour once one of the mods from the South Park zine that I'm in helped give me the push of inspiration that I needed to figure out what direction to take my idea in lmao;; The subtitle of this one is "In which Stan is an oblivious idiot and Kyle is Exasperated but still loves him anyway" lol

Stan could never understand why people said that the world was colorless until you met your soulmate.

As far back as he could remember, he’d always had color in his life: Kyle’s jacket was a vibrant orange, as was Kenny’s, while Cartman’s was red and his own was brown--it was as easy to see as the blue sky, the green grass, the white snow….

For a while, Stan thought that maybe there was something wrong with him. Maybe he didn’t have a soulmate, and that’s why he could always see color? It was the only explanation he could come up with, even if it was sad to think that everyone else in the world had someone that was destined to be with them except for him.

Well, if nothing else, at least he had Kyle. Even if he didn’t have a soulmate, he knew his best friend would stick with him for better or worse, through thick and thin, just like he would do for Kyle in turn.

Even if Kyle had a soulmate of his own.

Stan had a feeling it was probably Kenny--apparently the two of them had been able to see color since they were kids, and Kenny was the only other person aside from Stan that Kyle willingly spent a lot of time with, so… it had to be him. Which was fine, of course; granted, Kenny flirted with a lot of people, especially as he got older (and admittedly more attractive, not that Stan would say so aloud lest he inflate his friend’s ego), and he saw Kenny hanging out with Butters a lot whenever Kyle wasn’t with him, but….

It wasn’t really his place to say anything, since Kyle and Kenny had never actually admitted to being each other’s soulmates. Plus, he was just Kyle’s friend--his best friend,  _ super _ best friend even, but still just a friend at the end of the day. It would be weird for him to get involved and to tell Kenny that he shouldn’t be flirting with other people, that Kyle deserved better than to be soulmates with someone who wasn’t going to devote their whole heart and soul to him.

Still, even if he resolved to keep his nose out of Kyle’s business, he just needed to  _ know _ for sure. He’d stayed quiet for years now, all the way through elementary and middle school, figuring that his super best friend would tell him when he was ready, but… it was driving him crazy for reasons he couldn’t figure out, having to stand aside and watch Kyle and Kenny interacting without knowing whether or not they were even together yet.

They had to be, right? Granted, it wasn’t like Kyle ever turned Stan down whenever he asked to hang out, but that had to just be because Kyle was good at planning and managed to keep his super best friend time and soulmate time from conflicting with one another--and he never heard Kyle talk about going out on dates, but maybe Kyle was just embarrassed to talk about that stuff with him?

Regardless, he was resolved to get to the bottom of this once and for all after years of being left in the dark, and so it was with that in mind that Stan finally worked up the courage to blurt out, “Who’s your soulmate?”

Kyle paused in the middle of working on his homework, the two of them sitting across from one another on the floor in Stan’s bedroom, and turned his gaze over to Stan incredulously. “What?”

“Your soulmate,” Stan repeated, misunderstanding the look on his friend’s face. “I know you’ve had one since we were kids, but you never told me who it was, and I just… I mean, if you don’t want to tell me then it’s fine, but I’ve just been thinking about it lately and it’s kinda bothering me not knowing-- wait, hold on, sorry, that came out wrong, I meant because we’re friends and you can tell me anything, not because you  _ have _ to tell me--”

“Stan,” Kyle cut off Stan’s rambling, his expression a mixture between exasperation and disbelief. “Are you messing with me right now, or…?”

“What?” Stan blinked in bewilderment. “Dude, why would I be messing with you?”

“So you’re serious, then.”

“Uh, yeah? That’s kinda why I’m asking.”

Kyle leveled him with a flat look, and Stan wondered if maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut and not asked any questions after all--obviously he’d hit some sort of sore spot, or maybe--

“Stan,” Kyle began, with all the patience that he could muster (which apparently wasn’t much, seeing as he was already pinching the bridge of his nose as he spoke), “who am I hanging out with right now?”

“Huh?” Stan’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Uh… me?”

“Yes. Now, who have I hung out with the most this past year?”

“Uh… me, I guess, but-- dude, if I’ve been keeping you from hanging out with your soulmate or something, you could’ve just told me--”

Kyle let out a loud groan, running a hand down his face in clear exasperation. “I can’t believe this. I thought-- I can’t believe this whole time, you never-- You’re just  _ unbelievable _ , I swear. How can someone be so  _ dense? _ ”

Stan winced slightly, but before he could protest that he wasn’t  _ dense _ , and that it was Kyle’s fault for being difficult and secretive--

\--Kyle suddenly leaned forward, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pulling him into a kiss that immediately sapped away all traces of coherent thought from his mind.

“Now,” Kyle began as he leaned back, the slightest hint of a satisfied smirk on his face as he observed Stan’s dazed expression, “have you figured out who’s my soulmate?”

Stan blinked a few times, trying to force his flatlining brain to function enough to process what the hell just happened, before finally managing to get out a small, “Oh.”

Kyle let out an amused snort as he sat back down and turned his attention back to his homework. “Yeah,  _ oh _ .”

“So… you’re my…?”

“Yep.”

“And this whole time--”

“Yep.”

“ _ Dude. _ ”

Kyle glanced back up at Stan only to find him with an incredulous yet bright smile on his face, as if Kyle had just made his entire year, and Kyle couldn’t help but smile in return even as he shook his head in wry amusement.

“I can’t believe you didn’t know.”

Stan pouted slightly, but it was hard to keep his lips from twitching back up into a giddy grin. “How’s that my fault? You never told me!”

“Dude, I knew since we were like  _ ten _ , even without anyone telling me. You seriously never figured it out?”

“I mean, I kinda thought…,” Stan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “I thought you and Kenny were… y’know. Since he could see color too.”

Kyle’s nose scrunched up slightly. “Seriously, dude? Me and Kenny? First of all, I’m pretty sure Kenny and Butters are soulmates; and second of all, him and I are just friends. Why would you think I was soulmates with  _ him _ and not with you?”

“Well, I just…,” Stan shrugged weakly, his smile falling as he reluctantly admitted, “I guess I just thought that there was something wrong with me, or… something, I dunno.”

Kyle paused mid-homework assignment at that, his expression falling as he slowly set his pencil down in favor of moving over to sit next to Stan.

“I really wish you would’ve said something sooner,” Kyle said, dropping his gaze guiltily as he added, “And I guess it’s… kinda my fault for not realizing sooner that you didn’t know. I guess because we hang out so often, I kind of just assumed that you’d figured it out like I did.”

Stan cracked a small yet genuine smile as he took Kyle’s hand in his own, lacing their fingers together as he replied, “Well, what’s done is done. I’m just glad to know that my soulmate’s been here by my side this whole time.”

“Of course I have. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” Kyle lightly bumped his shoulder against Stan’s, smiling as Stan returned the affectionate gesture.

“Sooo,” Stan began, his smile widening mischievously as he leaned a bit closer to Kyle, “now that  _ that _ whole misunderstanding’s all cleared up… wanna kiss again?”

Though Kyle put up a front of being annoyed, Stan was pleased that his best friend--his  _ soulmate _ \--offered no protests, and instead leaned forward to press their lips together in lieu of a response.

It was a shame, knowing how many years they could have been spending time as more than just best friends, but Stan wasn’t about to complain--not when he finally got an answer to the question that had been plaguing him for years.


	5. Day Five: Fanfictions (Halloween Fic)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I was going to try and write something original for today, but it took me forever to just think of a random prompt to use for yesterday, so I decided instead to dig through my abandoned wips folder to see if there was anything Style-related that I could use, and I found this Halloween fic from like two years ago that isn't _entirely_ Style (at least not the majority that I had written, since it was still just setting up the story), but hopefully it's close enough to still count OTL;; I originally started writing it to try and challenge myself to write a fic with Cartman since I don't like writing him, but obviously I failed the challenge since I never continued the fic lmao whoops;; Hopefully it's still an enjoyable read on its own, though! ^^
> 
> There's also a few references to canon scattered throughout the fic, mainly to the Imaginationland trilogy and also to Cartman being able to see spirits which I think came from the movie iirc?? I don't know, it's been a while lmao I feel like that was brought up at least one other time in the series but I can't remember when;;

Kyle didn’t pay much attention to the disappearances occurring in his town over the past month--not until Mr. and Mrs. Marsh were at the Broflovski’s doorstep in tears, asking Kyle if they’d seen their son.

With the realization came a crushing sense of guilt: when  _ had _ he last seen his friend? At school? Shouldn’t he have been worried that Stan, his best friend, hadn’t tried to hang out with him at least once over the entire weekend? But no, he’d just assumed that Stan had been busy and hadn’t even thought to question it until reality came crashing down around him.

Kyle had immediately called up Kenny after the Marshes left, his worry growing when Kenny’s phone went straight to voicemail, and finally he reluctantly called up Cartman, unsure of whether or not to feel relieved when he picked up the phone.

“Cartman, have you heard anything from Stan or Kenny all weekend?”

“Huh? Why the hell would I have? Stan’s sucking your dick, not mine, and Kenny never comes over unless it’s for free food,” came Cartman’s bored reply, and Kyle’s irritation flared up.

“They’re  _ missing _ , you asshole!” Well, he didn’t know for sure that Kenny was missing, but he vaguely remembered Kenny mentioning something about crashing at Stan’s house, so it was very likely that the two were together last before Stan’s disappearance--and if Kenny had been with Stan when he disappeared, then….

“Oh.” Cartman’s tone carried an “ _ and I should care,  _ **_why?_ ** ” tone that made Kyle see red.

“This was stupid, I shouldn’t have even bothered calling you.” Kyle scowled and glared at the wall in lieu of Cartman himself, not wanting to admit that he’d been the tiniest bit worried that the fatass had somehow disappeared along with his other two friends. “Goodbye.”

Before giving Cartman a chance to say anything else to piss him off, Kyle hung up and threw his phone onto his bed, frustration briefly taking the place of his grief and worry.

“Stupid fatass… why do I even bother?” Kyle was tempted to just collapse in bed and stew in his frustration, but the thought of something bad happening to his kidnapped friends pushed him to sit in his computer chair and load up his computer.

He knew that the police in this town couldn’t be counted on to solve such a serious mystery--and normally, Mysterion would be on the case, but with Kenny gone… Kyle didn’t want to inflate his own ego, but there weren’t very many problem-solvers in this town with more skill than him, so it was only natural that he should step up to the plate and do what he could to figure out where the missing townspeople had disappeared to.

Kyle’s only regret was not stepping in before his best friend got involved.

* * *

Cartman raised an eyebrow as he watched Kyle practically drag himself to the bus stop the next morning, dark circles under his eyes and his posture screaming exhaustion.

“Damn Jew, and here I thought you couldn’t possibly look any worse than normal.”

Kyle couldn’t even be bothered to respond, instead merely rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn behind his hand as he tried to focus on standing upright.

“... I was up all night doing research,” Kyle finally spoke after a minute of feeling Cartman staring at him. “I was trying to find some sort of common factor to the people who disappeared and when they disappeared, but all I was able to get was that they tended to disappear at night and that the disappearances started at the end of last month.” He idly clutched his head over his ushanka as he let out a frustrated breath. “There were a couple of similar cases in different cities nearby over the past few months, but the disappearances were so random and disconnected that it’s almost impossible to link them to one another. It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Huh….” Cartman remarked, and Kyle turned to glare at him, assuming that he was acting disinterested again--but surprisingly, Cartman’s brows were furrowed in thought.

“Do you know anything? Anything at all?” Kyle asked, desperate for any sort of clue that could help him connect the dots and figure out where his best friend (and everyone else) had been taken to.

“I know plenty of things,” Cartman remarked distractedly, a hint of his usual irritating arrogance in his tone, but Kyle let it slide for once in hopes that Cartman might actually say something useful.

The bus pulled up, and Cartman made his way on without saying anything else, followed by Kyle, whose expression was annoyed as he inwardly berated himself for getting hopeful that Cartman of all people might end up helping him.

Kyle plopped himself down in a window seat, too tired to bother being any more annoyed than he already was as Cartman sat right next to him--normally Kyle would sit with Stan, but…. He let out a sigh and rested his head against the window, the glass feeling cool against his skin, as he closed his eyes and got a few minutes of sleep before school, completely oblivious to Cartman searching the Internet on his phone right next to him.

* * *

“Hey Jew, wanna take a trip outside of town with me tonight?”

Kyle was halfway to closing his locker when Cartman’s abrupt invasion of his personal space and random question distracted him, and his expression must have reflected his bewilderment because Cartman continued speaking.

“There’s this creepy traveling shop that set up about a month ago at that old abandoned shack just outside of town,” Cartman explained with a grin. “Practically the whole school’s got a betting pool going to see who’s going to go there and make it back to tell the tale--all we’ve got to do is go and take a picture, and that money is as good as ours! And since I’m feeling generous, I might actually consider splitting the money between us, an even 70-30 split for me and you. What do you say?”

“I  _ say _ that you’re an idiot, and that I have better things to do with my time than traveling out of town just to satisfy a stupid bet!”

Kyle scowled and slammed his locker shut before turning around, intending on storming off towards the school’s exit, but he only made it two steps before Cartman’s voice rang out again.

“Kyle, Kyle, Kyle,” Cartman tsked, and Kyle could practically  _ hear _ him shaking his head in mock disappointment. “Even  _ I _ have to admit, you’re not usually this slow.”

“What the hell’s  _ that _ supposed to mean?!” Kyle shouted as he whirled back around to glare at Cartman, who--to his growing irritation--smirked in response, as if waiting for the penny to drop.

And it didn't drop so much as crash into him full-force as Kyle belatedly processed Cartman’s explanation from beginning to end, trying to figure out why the hell the fat bastard looked so smug and inadvertently catching a detail he’d paid no mind to at first.

“... You said they set up about a month ago?” Kyle questioned slowly, his irritation simmering down and quickly being replaced by something dangerously close to hope--but no, he wasn’t going to get suckered into another one of Cartman’s schemes, not right now, not when Stan and Kenny could be in danger.

In lieu of a response, Cartman took out his phone and opened up the web browser before tossing it to Kyle, who wordlessly caught it and looked at the page that was open, his eyes gradually widening as he read through the article talking about the occult-oriented traveling shop and all their previous locations.

“... This is….”

“Insane, I know, but their previous locations are suspiciously close to the locations of all the other disappearance cases, and the fact that they set up so close to our town around the same time as the disappearances here is another strike against them. I’d say it’s a pretty solid lead, no matter how crazy the place sounds.”

Kyle looked up at Cartman, a flash of awe and newfound (yet tentative) respect briefly crossing his expression before his brows furrowed in confusion. “Why are you doing this?”

“Hm? Doing what?” Cartman approached Kyle and casually took his phone back, shoving it into his pocket.

“ _ This! _ I mean, let’s face it, you’re no saint--you don’t just go around trying to help people unless you’re getting something out of it.”

Cartman snorted. “Of course not, why the fuck would I waste my time helping people for fun?”

The larger boy began making his way towards the school’s exit, only stopping when Kyle called out to him.

“So then what are you getting out of helping me track down the people that disappeared? You can’t seriously just be interested in some stupid betting pool--what’s in it for you, really?”

Cartman glanced back at Kyle with a smirk, and Kyle repressed a shiver at the glint in his eyes--it was the same look that Cartman got whenever he was plotting revenge, and it never spelled anything good for the person on the receiving end of Cartman’s wrath.

“As much as I like fucking around with you assholes, I don’t appreciate someone else coming into  _ my _ town and fucking with everyone here without including me in the fun.”

Before Kyle could formulate a coherent response (considering how he was running on just the few minutes of sleep that he’d gotten on the bus that morning, it was a wonder how he was even functioning at all right now), Cartman turned back around and continued walking towards the exit, calling over his shoulder as he moved.

“So are you coming or not?”

Kyle snapped out of it and hastily moved to catch up with Cartman, wariness and relief warring in his mind as he followed the larger boy to a bus that would take them outside of town.

He could probably count on one hand the number of times he’d been grateful to have Cartman on his side over the course of all the years Kyle had known him--and this, he thought as he dozed off on the bus, was definitely one of those times.

(Not that he would ever give Cartman the satisfaction of hearing him say that, of course.)

* * *

Kyle was unpleasantly jarred from his sleep by a hand gripping his shoulder and shaking him, and he grimaced as he opened his eyes.

“Come on Kyle, get up! We’re here!”

Kyle rubbed his eyes, figuring he should at least be grateful that Cartman had waited until they arrived before going back to being an obnoxious asshole--he didn’t exactly feel completely rested, but he was feeling a little more awake than he’d felt all day, so he supposed it was better than nothing.

Apparently satisfied by Kyle finally opening his eyes and sitting up, Cartman rose out of his seat and made his way off the bus, and Kyle hastily grabbed his bag and followed after him.

Kyle had to walk quickly to catch up with Cartman, who was making his way towards the rusty-looking shack in the distance, so he was completely unprepared for the larger boy to suddenly stop in his tracks, causing Kyle to walk right into him before stumbling backwards with a grunt.

“What the hell, fatass! Why did you--” Kyle cut off as he looked around Cartman, the words dying on his tongue as he got a proper look at the building.

It looked like something straight out of a horror movie: not only did it look like it was falling apart, but the entire area was blanketed in an eerie fog that Kyle swore was not there when they stepped off the bus, and he was suddenly filled with the inexplicable urge to turn tail and run as far from this creepy place as possible.

Scowling in frustration, Kyle shook his head and walked around Cartman, his determination to find his best friend outweighing any nervousness he felt.

“Come on, we’re not going to get anything done just standing here. Let’s go.”

He walked a few more steps before realizing that Cartman wasn’t following him, and he glanced back with an annoyed expression to find the larger boy still in the same spot, staring at the building with an unfocused gaze.

“Hello? Earth to Cartman? Let’s go already, fatass!”

Cartman seemed to snap out of it at that, and Kyle couldn’t help but notice that he seemed a bit paler than usual--but there was no way that Cartman of all people could be seriously  _ scared _ , especially not when he’d been the one to suggest coming here in the first place, so he shrugged off the observation and continued walking as soon as Cartman caught up with him.

Kyle paid no mind to the way Cartman hovered a bit closer than necessary as they made their way into the shop, doing his best to ignore the chill that ran down his spine in favor of keeping his mind focused on looking for anything incriminating that could link this place to the disappearances. To his annoyance and confusion, however, he couldn’t find anything except old, dusty (and kind of creepy-looking) knick-knacks lining the shelves.

“What the hell…?” Kyle walked around, his brows furrowed in a mixture of frustration and confusion. “There’s nothing here--not even a salesperson! What sort of shop  _ is _ this?”

“Kyle, we need to get out of here.  _ Now _ .”

Kyle turned back around to find Cartman rooted to his spot, and now there was no ignoring the paleness in his face, nor could he ignore the way Cartman’s eyes were staring intently at a door that Kyle had somehow overlooked.

“We’ll leave after I finish looking around--”

“No, Kyle, you don’t understand! This place is--” Cartman faltered, and there was something in his tone and expression that made a feeling of uneasiness stir in Kyle’s gut. “... Look, I know you’re probably thinking that I’m pulling your leg or something, and yeah, normally it’d be pretty damn funny to act all scared to freak you out only to be like ‘surprise bitch, I was just joking, haha, don’t you feel stupid for believing me’ but I swear to God or Satan or  _ whatever _ that I’m being completely honest right now--this place is bad news, and we need to get the hell out of here before whoever owns this place comes back, or else we’ll….”

“Or else we’ll what?” Kyle asked despite his better judgement, feeling annoyed with himself for getting suckered into Cartman’s act as always and feeling even more annoyed for thinking that maybe, just this once, Cartman was actually being honest with him.

Cartman’s gaze flickered around to the knick-knacks on the shelves lining the walls before turning his gaze back over to the door as he replied, “... Or else we’ll end up like  _ them _ .”

“Cartman, what the hell are you talking about?”

“They’re  _ alive _ , Kyle--this whole place, everything in here, it’s all  _ alive _ and if I was a pussy little Jew like you then maybe I’d actually say something like I’m kind of fucking freaked out, which I’m totally not, but--”

Kyle let out an annoyed grunt. “Alright, now I  _ know _ you’re fucking with me,” he grumbled, and he moved to walk away before being forced to stop as Cartman’s hand grabbed his arm. “Let me go--!”

“Kyle,  _ listen to me! _ If I can’t prove that I’m being honest with you, then I swear I’ll get on my knees and suck your balls dry in front of the whole school.”

Kyle grimaced at the mental image, but he supposed that Cartman didn’t usually go  _ this _ far with trying to get him to fall for one of his tricks, so he could at least suspend his disbelief for a minute or two to give Cartman a chance to explain himself.

“Alright, fine, let’s say I believe you. What do you mean everything in here is  _ alive? _ ”

Cartman let go of Kyle’s arm, appearing to seriously consider his words (another point in his favor, since Cartman rarely ever said anything serious enough to warrant him actually thinking before he spoke). “Well, maybe not  _ alive _ , but… look, basically the short version is that all this crap on these shelves have spirits in them.”

“And you can see these spirits.” The question came out dryer and more skeptical than Kyle intended, but to be fair, it was one of the more ridiculous things that Cartman had ever tried to get him to believe.

“Kyle, look, I know you’re probably the last person who’d believe in this kind of shit, but it’s real and it’s serious. I usually don’t see this many at once, but dude, they’re fucking  _ everywhere _ \--it’s like a ghost infestation, and it’s creeping me the fuck out!” Cartman reined himself in a bit, his gaze traveling back to the door and a shiver running down his spine. “And if you want proof, well… just look in there. I could hear them the minute I stepped in this damn place.”

“What? Hear  _ who? _ ” Kyle looked a cross between bewildered and frustrated, unable to tell whether Cartman was being serious or if he was just playing him like a fiddle and building up to the moment when he’d start laughing at Kyle for being enough of a “dumb Jew” to believe him.

“You’re obviously not going to believe me, so just look for yourself.”

“Fine!” Kyle scowled and marched over to the door, too annoyed to bother being surprised that it was unlocked as he threw it open and walked into the back room.

It took him a second to find the light switch, but as soon as the room lit up, Kyle felt all the blood drain from his face as he stared at the shelves, filled with rows upon rows of boxed ball-joint dolls.

Kyle had never had a fear of dolls, nor could he say he did now--no, it wasn’t the dolls that he feared, but rather the  _ appearances _ of the dolls.

Because there was no way it could be a coincidence that all of these dolls looked exactly like the missing people from South Park.

< _ Kyle? What's Kyle doing here? _ >

Kyle jerked out of his shock at the sound of his name, immediately recognizing the voice and looking around frantically for the source. “Stan?”

< _ Kyle, you can hear me?! _ >

“I… y-yeah, I can hear you! Where--ah!” Kyle’s eyes widened as he spotted a doll that looked like Stan, and he quickly rushed over to it and carefully pulled the box off the shelf, feeling nauseous from both the thought of his best friend being trapped in an inanimate object and the feeling of the eyes of all the other trapped townspeople watching him.

He was stopped from ripping the box open by Cartman’s hand grabbing his wrist, but he didn’t even have a chance to say anything before Cartman spoke.

“Look, I know you want to save your boyfriend, but do you really think whoever did this won’t notice if you just toss an empty box on the floor?”

Kyle bit back a reflexive denial of Stan being his boyfriend in favor of focusing on what Cartman was trying to say: leaving an empty box was tantamount to announcing to whatever crazy person owned this place that someone came in and took something, and considering how Stan’s name was printed on the box and how Kyle lived right next door to him, it would be almost ridiculously easy to track him down and not only take Stan back, but probably turn  _ him _ into one of these creepy dolls too.

“I’m not leaving him here,” Kyle stubbornly insisted. “I don’t want to leave anyone here, but… especially not Stan, I just can’t.”

< _ Kyle, dude, I know you want to help, but you’re putting yourself in danger! This guy’s a total psycho! _ >

“I know, but I have to do  _ something! _ ” Kyle responded, before catching the surprised expression on Cartman’s face. “Err, I, uh--”

“You can hear him too?”

Now it was Kyle’s turn to look bewildered. “What do you mean  _ too? _ Are you saying you can hear Stan?”

“I already  _ told _ you, you stupid Jew! I could hear all of them the minute I stepped into this freaky place!” Cartman responded, before turning and glaring up at one of the boxes. “Yeah, that’s right, I can hear you, so fuck off with the comments or I’ll help sell you guys myself!”

“Stan?” Kyle glanced down at his friend in confusion, silently asking for an explanation.

< _ Uh, everyone’s not too thrilled that the one person who can hear us and help us is the fatass of all people, _ > Stan responded, and Kyle grimaced.

“Okay, yeah, that’s understandable--but if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have even known about this place, so he  _ is _ trying in his own way, I guess.”

“Damn fucking right, so all you assholes had better show me the respect I deserve!” Cartman added, prompting an eye-roll from Kyle.

“This really isn’t the time for an ego trip, fatass. We need to help everyone get out of here.”

“And then what, genius?” Cartman glanced at Kyle in annoyance. “Getting them out of here won’t magically turn them back to normal--and even if it did, there’s no way we could carry them all, and we have no idea when the person that owns this place will be back.”

Kyle’s heart dropped as he realized that Cartman was right. “But… but we can’t just  _ leave _ them!”

“We can, and we will. Now let’s go.”

“You’re so fucking heartless! Don’t you even care about any of them?!”

Cartman glared at Kyle, who faltered for a moment before stubbornly glaring back. “I swear, for someone who acts like he’s so smart, you can be such a stupid Jew sometimes. What good will it do anyone if we get caught? It’s called losing a battle to win the war, dumbass--this place obviously isn’t going anywhere right now, so there’s no point in rushing and risking the only chance everyone has.”

Kyle, along with all of the trapped townspeople, were stunned into silence at Cartman’s response--it was easy to forget with all the stupid shit that he did, but underneath all his childishness, he was almost scarily sharp.

Still, the last thing that Kyle would ever do is give Cartman the satisfaction of knowing that he was right, and so he huffed and wordlessly moved around him with the box containing Stan’s inanimate form clutched to his chest. He glanced behind him when he heard Cartman grumbling and moving, his eyebrows shooting up in a mixture of surprise and confusion as he watched Cartman snatch the box containing Kenny.

“He won’t shut up about wanting me to take him to Butters,” Cartman said by way of explanation as he pushed past Kyle and walked out of the room with an annoyed expression, and though Kyle knew that this was Cartman’s way of trying to show that he wasn’t  _ completely _ heartless and he really  _ did _ want to help, he still couldn’t stop himself from glaring at Cartman’s retreating form before softening his expression as he glanced back at everyone left trapped.

“... I’m sorry. We’ll find a way to get everyone out of here, I promise--just hold on until then.”

With that, Kyle closed the door behind him and rushed out of the store after Cartman, completely oblivious to the scrap of paper that fluttered to the ground in the boys’ wake.

* * *

It took all of Kyle’s self-restraint to wait until they were on the bus before finally opening the box that was holding Stan captive, his stomach turning with each passing second.

< _ Dude, I think you’re even more freaked out about this than I am, _ > Stan joked at one point as Kyle fidgeted with the box.

“Of course I am!” Kyle hissed back, hesitant to draw any attention to himself despite no one actually watching or listening (aside from Cartman and Kenny, the latter of which he couldn’t even hear).

He was very,  _ very _ careful as he pulled the plastic casing out of the box on his lap, setting the box aside once it was empty before opening the plastic casing so he could lift the doll up.

Stan yelped, and Kyle very nearly dropped him in surprise.

“Shit, dude, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

< _ N-no, no, I just… it’s fucking  _ **_weird_ ** _ , man. I can feel you holding me, _ > Stan explained.

Kyle and Cartman both looked surprised to hear this, though Cartman’s surprised expression shifted to annoyance as he looked down at Kenny.

“Ey!”

Kyle glanced down at Stan in confusion. “What did he say?”

< _ That he’d rather stay in the box than feel Cartman’s fat hands all over his body. _ >

Kyle laughed, and Cartman glared at him in annoyance, though he was cut off from any attempts at getting into an argument with Kyle as Stan continued speaking.

< _ So you seriously can’t hear him? At all? _ >

Kyle frowned and shook his head, shooting Kenny an apologetic look even if he was sure he couldn't see it from his position. “I couldn't hear anyone else back there, either. Just you.”

Cartman snorted. “Seriously, Kyle? I don't think you could be any more gay if you were on your knees sucking Stan’s dick.”

“Shut up, fatass!” Kyle flushed and glared at Cartman. “It's not the first time we've heard each other like this and you know it.”

< _ Yeah, when I was trapped in Imaginationland Kyle could hear me too, so it's not too surprising. I think. _ > Though Stan couldn't physically move, his tone gave the mental impression of a shrug. < _ At this point I think all of our ideas of what's normal are a bit screwed up. _ >

“You can say that again,” Kyle muttered.

“Still doesn't mean you two aren't totally gay for each other,” Cartman pointed out, and the only reason why Kyle didn't punch him was he didn't want to let go of Stan.

(Just because he was worried that the bus might jerk to a stop or make a sharp turn and he'd fall and get hurt, not because he was gay for his best friend, god damn it.)

“Look Cartman, either you can be an asshole all night, or we can actually focus on being productive and getting something done.”

“Last I checked, I could be an asshole and be productive at the same time,” Cartman responded with an irritating smirk, before adding, “Besides, I’ve already got a plan.”

“What? You do?” Kyle asked, bewildered.

Stan was obviously just as bewildered as he added, < _ Do you mean a serious plan, or is this another one of your stupidly ridiculous plans that you pull out of your ass for laughs? _ >

“Ey! All of my plans are totally serious and totally awesome, so shut up!” Cartman glared at Stan and made a move to grab him, only for Kyle to quickly hug him against his chest protectively.

“Stan has every right to be wary,” Kyle responded, oblivious to Stan’s growing embarrassment. “This is  _ serious _ , Cartman, and if you’re not going to treat this situation seriously, then I’ll just figure out how to help everyone on my own!”

Cartman rolled his eyes. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Jew--but if you want to try and help everyone on your own, then be my guest.”

“Fine, I will!” Kyle responded with a glare, stubbornly grabbing his bag with one hand and continuing to hold Stan against his chest with his other hand as he stood up and moved to a different seat away from Cartman.

He continued to stew in his irritation for a good few minutes as he glared out the window, only snapping out of it when he heard Stan’s voice.

< _ Uh… Kyle? _ >

Kyle glanced down at the sound of Stan’s tentative tone, before blushing heavily as he finally realized that he’d been hugging Stan against his chest the entire time without realizing it. Ignoring the snickering coming from Cartman, he quickly yet carefully moved Stan away from his chest so he could look down at him, his expression worried. “Dude, I’m sorry, I-- a-are you alright? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

< _ No, no, I’m fine, _ > came Stan’s quick reply, and Kyle hated how hard it was to tell whether Stan was just trying to appease him or if he really was fine. < _ Are  _ **_you_ ** _ okay, though? _ >

“What? Of course I’m fine, I’m not the one who’s… who went through everything you went through,” Kyle finished lamely, guilt quickly replacing his earlier irritation--here he was, acting immature and getting angry over Cartman’s stupid little comments, when Stan had been trapped as an inanimate object and sitting in a back room waiting to get sold off for the past few days. If anyone deserved to be angry and upset, it was Stan, not him.

< _ Dude, please don’t blame yourself. Everything’s going to be fine, I know it. _ >

“How can you be so sure…?” Kyle’s brows furrowed as he stared down at the ball-joint doll in his hands, genuinely curious how Stan could be so optimistic when Kyle practically felt like he was getting another hemorrhoid from worry.

< _ Because you found me and got me out of there. Kyle, dude, you’re like the smartest guy I know; if anyone can straighten this mess out, it’s you. _ >

Kyle’s expression softened, his heart lifting at the trust and confidence that his best friend had in him. “Stan… thank you. I promise I won’t let you down.”

“ _ Gaaaayyyyyy. _ ”

Kyle turned to glare at Cartman, his good mood immediately ruined once more. “ _ Shut up, _ fatass!”

“ _ You _ shut up, Jew!”

“No,  _ you _ shut up!”

“ **_You_ ** shut up!”

Oblivious to Stan’s annoyed groans and Kenny’s amused laughter, Cartman and Kyle continued bickering with each other throughout the entire ride back into South Park.


	6. Day Six: Holidays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best with this one but I apologize in advance if it feels rushed;; I didn't have much time to do any writing today, and I was drawing a bit of a blank on the prompt OTL

Kyle let out a long, exasperated sigh as he leaned against the wall near the snack table, an almost empty cup of soda in one hand as his gaze idly moved around the room.

Holiday parties were never really his thing, and he’d been planning on skipping in favor of staying home and enjoying the peace and quiet with a good book--but unfortunately, if there was one thing he’d had trouble doing ever since he was a kid, it was saying no to Stan.

“Dude, what are you doing hiding in the corner?”

And speaking of Stan….

Kyle turned his attention over to his best friend as he heard his voice over the Christmas music, frowning in distaste as he saw the can of beer in Stan’s hand.

“Waiting for the party to be over,” Kyle replied dryly, before taking a sip of his soda.

“Seriously?” Stan leaned against the wall next to Kyle, who tried in vain to ignore how close Stan was standing and how he could practically feel the heat emanating off of him from his proximity.

“Yes, seriously,” Kyle replied with a roll of his eyes, managing to keep his composure through sheer willpower. “You know parties aren’t my thing, dude. Besides,” he added, plucking at the sweater he was in with an expression of distaste, “I look ridiculous in this thing. The less people see me, the better.”

“In case you didn’t notice, we’re  _ all _ in ugly Christmas sweaters, dude,” Stan replied with a laugh, playing with the lights on his own sweater for emphasis: a “Tree Rex” sweater, to match Kyle’s “Menorasaurus” sweater. “That’s one of the fun parts about Christmas parties.”

“For you, maybe,” Kyle muttered, lifting the cup in his hand to take a sip of soda only to frown in annoyance when he realized that his cup was empty.

Stan pouted slightly. “C’mon man, you could at least  _ try _ and have fun. They’re gonna start the party games soon; why don’t you join in?”

Kyle sighed and ran a hand through his hair, knowing he was done for as soon as Stan met his gaze.

“I guess a few games wouldn’t hurt,” he reluctantly conceded, briefly glancing around for a garbage can and tossing out his cup before making his way back over to Stan’s side.

It was hard to keep himself from smiling as he saw the excitement on his best friend’s face as he guided him towards where the games were being set up, chattering the whole way.  Even if he wasn’t a fan of parties--especially not Christmas parties--it was worth it to tolerate them if it meant making Stan happy.

Or at least, that’s what he thought until he and Stan came to a stop only to be met with the sounds of giggling and laughter.

“What?” he couldn’t help but snap as he saw a few people eyeing them in clear amusement, before realizing that they weren’t looking directly at them--no, their gazes were  _ above _ them.

Reluctantly, Kyle’s gaze traveled upward, only to find--of all things--mistletoe hanging from the archway into the next room, the only way to get to the room where the games would take place.

Kyle could only assume that this was the first “game”, judging by the mischievous expressions he could see on a few people’s faces.

Still, it’s not like it really mattered what kind of dumb prank some (most likely drunk) college students were trying to pull. Kyle wasn’t going to play along with this for other people’s amusement, and so long as Stan didn’t notice, then they could just move on without--

“Dude, is that mistletoe?”

It was official: Kyle hated Christmas parties.

“Yeah, they probably just put it up as a stupid prank or something,” Kyle replied. “Let’s just go and--”

“Wait, hold on, but don’t we have to kiss? Isn’t it, like, bad luck or something if we don’t?”

Kyle turned to look at Stan incredulously. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah! It’s definitely bad luck if we don’t, so we… y’know. Should.”

Was it Kyle’s imagination, or did Stan seem a bit…  _ eager _ about this?

Swallowing thickly, Kyle worked up just enough nerve to take a step closer to Stan, turning his gaze away as he muttered, “If you’re that worried about it, then I guess--”

Stan didn’t even give him a chance to finish before he cleared what little distance was left between them and pressed their lips together in a kiss that had the onlookers whooping and cackling, not that he nor Stan cared much about what anyone else was thinking at the moment.

Kyle was dimly aware of the faint taste of alcohol, and for a moment he worried that Stan was only doing this because he was drunk--but no, he’d been careful to watch Stan’s alcohol consumption (without being obvious about it, of course) and Stan hadn’t even finished two cans of beer, so there was no way that this was because of the alcohol.

There was also no way that Stan was seriously worried about some superstition, either, which left only one conclusion: Stan wanted to kiss Kyle, and was using the mistletoe as just as much of an excuse as Kyle was in kissing Stan back.

Maybe he was wrong about Christmas parties, in the end: if something like this could come from wearing a stupid looking sweater and tolerating annoying music and loud chatter, then maybe he should start going to more parties with Stan after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually went and looked up ugly Christmas/Hanukkah sweaters just for this short drabble lmao;;  
> [Stan's sweater](https://www.uglychristmassweater.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tree-Rex-Light-Up-T-Rex-Ugly-Christmas-Sweater-2.jpg)  
> [Kyle's sweater](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1EHx4FHFjL._CLa%7C2140%2C2000%7CB1Sql75vdjS.png%7C0%2C0%2C2140%2C2000%2B0.0%2C0.0%2C2140.0%2C2000.0._UX522_.png)


	7. Day Seven: Super Best Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit angsty, since I decided to approach their relationship from a more recent-canon standpoint (though I'm admittedly like a season or two behind so it might not be _that_ recent lmao;;), but of course there's an optimistic (and maybe a bit silly) ending because I can't not have them be SBFs in the end lol

Stan glanced around the school cafeteria, lunch tray in hand as he looked for an empty seat--and for a moment, his gaze came to rest on Kyle sitting at a table with more than just a few seats to spare around him.

With a despondent sigh, he forced himself to go and sit at a different empty table.

Things between him and Kyle had been… _strained_ , for lack of a better term, ever since… well. Honestly, Stan couldn’t even remember when the rift in their friendship had begun--all he knew was that one day, Kyle was his best friend, and in the blink of an eye, he was just… gone.

Not _physically_ gone, obviously, since he hadn’t moved away and was still around, but… the time that they spent together grew less and less, and they began having more and more disagreements and arguments with one another over everything and nothing.

It wasn’t like they stopped talking to one another, or that they couldn’t stand to be civil with one another, though--so really, Stan should have been grateful for at least that much; and he _was_ grateful, of course, but… at the end of the day, he missed that strong connection that he’d had with his super best friend, that had gotten him through so many rough (and sometimes dangerous and even life-threatening) points in both of their lives.

No point in yearning for a relationship that was pretty much as good as dead, though. Kyle didn’t seem to be bothered by them growing apart, and the last thing Stan wanted to do was ruin the tentative friendship that they still had left by bringing the subject up.

“Lookie who we have here. Not eating with your super gay friend?”

Stan turned his gaze up to find Cartman looking down at him, a tray of food in hand and a grin on his face that immediately ticked Stan off.

“Go away, Cartman. I’m not in the mood to deal with you.”

Stan regretted the words as soon as they left his lips: telling Cartman no was basically akin to holding up a sign saying “ _go ahead and bother the crap out of me some more_ ”, and it seemed that Cartman was just bored enough to follow through with that if the widening of his sneer was any indication.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Sad that your boyfriend hasn’t been sucking your dick lately?”

Stan grit his teeth, dropping his gaze down to his lunch and forcing himself not to lash out beyond hissing a quiet, “Shut _up_ , Cartman.”

The more of a reaction he gave, the more Cartman would egg him on--he knew that, and yet having the most irritating person in all of South Park poking at a subject that had just been eating at him was making it difficult to just brush him off and ignore him like he should.

There was the distant sound of heavy footsteps approaching, but Stan paid no attention to it until Cartman said, “Hey look, it’s your gay in shining arm-- _ow!!_ What the _fuck_ , Kyle?!”

Stan’s head shot up to find Cartman struggling to balance his lunch tray on one hand while he clutched his shin with his other hand, a pained grimace on his face--and by contrast, Kyle’s expression was irritated as he glared at Cartman, looking like he was about seconds away from taking his own lunch tray and hitting him with it.

“Get lost, fatass. No one wants to deal with your crap.”

Cartman scowled and shot them both a glare, muttering, “Screw you guys,” as he stormed off.

Stan would have been relieved, had it not been for the awkward silence that suddenly filled the air between him and Kyle now that the two of them were alone.

“Uh… thanks for that,” Stan began awkwardly, trying to grasp for some sort of normality but coming up a bit short in both his tone and expression. “He was being an annoying dick.”

Thankfully, this pulled a quiet huff of laughter from Kyle, and the tension that Stan didn’t even realize was in his body immediately drained away in response.

“Isn’t that normal for Cartman?” Kyle replied wryly, seeming to hesitate for a moment before setting his lunch tray down on the table and taking a seat across from Stan.

Stan laughed weakly, inwardly feeling relieved that Kyle was actually staying and talking with him for what felt like the first time in forever. “True, but he was being extra annoying today.”

Kyle made a noise of agreement, but apparently couldn’t come up with much more to say than that, and the two of them stared at each other in awkward silence before reluctantly turning their gazes down to their food.

As they ate, Stan wracked his brain for something that he could say to lighten the mood and dispel this stifling air between them. Part of him hated that he was struggling at all--conversation between him and Kyle always used to flow so freely, to the point where there just wasn’t enough time in the day for them to say everything they wanted to say to one another.

How did things get this bad between them, that they couldn’t even hold a casual conversation anymore?

Was their bond really just… gone? Were they not super best friends anymore?

Stan had always thought that he was going to spend the rest of his life with Kyle by his side--he thought that the bond between them would last until they were both really really old, like his parents, or even like his _grandfather_ , but… now it was starting to look like they wouldn’t even finish _elementary_ school as best friends, and Stan couldn't stand it.

He wanted things to go back to the way they used to be.

Kyle was sitting here, close enough for Stan to reach out and grab him if he wanted--yet he might as well have been miles away with the almost palpable rift between them.

He hated it.

There had to be something, _anything_ he could do or say to prove at least to himself that they were still connected, they could still understand each other and communicate with one another no matter what kind of crap tried to force them apart--

Stan perked up as a ridiculously simple idea came to mind. He was going to feel really embarrassed if this didn’t work, but it was well worth the risk as far as he was concerned.

He took a breath, letting it out slowly before exclaiming, “ _Oh my god, they killed Kenny!_ ”

“ _You bast_ \--wait, huh? Dude, Kenny’s right over there.”

Stan couldn’t help it--laughter quickly began to bubble up, partially out of relief, and partially from the sight of Kenny turning from where he was seated a few tables away to flip him off.

Even more relieving was the sound of Kyle’s laughter slowly but surely joining him as he finally seemed to pick up on Stan’s train of thought, the sound like music to Stan’s ears.

He felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his chest: they would still have to talk through some issues, to try and get to the bottom of what caused the rift between them to form in the first place and to figure out how to work past it, but for now….

For now, Stan was just happy to be able to sit and laugh with his super best friend like old times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for Style week! It was a bit of a struggle to keep up with but I'm glad that I managed to finish all of the days on time, and I'm overall happy with how my collection of fics turned out ^^ Thank you so much to everyone who read, kudo'd, bookmarked, commented, or even just popped in to take a look! ;u;


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